Peter Lawson-Johnston
Bio:
Honorary Chairman of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Senior Partner at Guggenheim Brothers, Chairman of The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. A grandson of Solomon R. Guggenheim, since 1964 Mr. Lawson-Johnston has been a Trustee of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation-which currently operates Guggenheim Museums in New York, Bilbao, Berlin and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy. He served as Vice President-Business Administration of the Foundation from 1965-1969, as President from 1969-1995, Chairman from 1995-1998 and Honorary Chairman 1998 to present. Having served as President of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Advisory Board for many years, he serves as President Emeritus (2011-present).
Mr. Lawson-Johnston graduated from The Lawrenceville School, in New Jersey, in 1945. He served two years in the U.S. Army. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1951 and took a position as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun until 1953. Mr. Lawson-Johnston was Public Information Director at the Maryland Defense Agency from 1954 to 1956. In 1956 Mr. Lawson-Johnston joined the Feldspar Corporation. He became a Director of Feldspar in 1959 and Director of Zemex Corp. (formerly Pacific Tin Consolidated Corp.) in 1960. Mr. Lawson-Johnston has been the Senior Partner at his family holding company, Guggenheim Brothers, since 1971, having joined the firm as a Partner in 1962. He has been a Director of The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation since 1968 and Chairman of the Foundation since 1971. In addition, Mr. Lawson-Johnston is President and Director of Elgerbar Corporation. He served as Chairman of the University of Virginia Art Museum Advisory Board from 1997 to 2005 and Chairman Emeritus until 2008; and is a former Director of National Review.
Mr. Lawson-Johnston is a recipient of the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Award, presented by the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1986; the Lawrenceville Medal, presented by the Lawrenceville School in 1997. He is an active member of the Century Association, the Brook Club and the Links Club in New York City, and the Jupiter Island Club in Hobe Sound, FL and Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach. He is the author of Growing Up Guggenheim, A Personal History of a Family Enterprise, published in May 2005. Married to Dede Hammond Lawson-Johnston, the Lawson-Johnstons have four children, ten grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.